the development of aggression

Essay by manphaUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, April 2002

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Literature Review

Introduction

One of the clearest concepts of why people do the things they do are modeling. Albert Banduras developed the term modeling. Modeling is a term that describes what the observer does (i.e. copy the behavior) and the model does (demonstrates a behavior). There are different types of models: a live model which is an actual person demonstrating a particular behavior; a symbolic model which is a person portrayed on television or movies; and verbal instruction which is a description of how to behave. Behavior can be learned through modeling. The behavior I will be focusing on is aggression and its development.

The Development of Aggression

For decade's psychologists have attempted to find the causes of aggression. Some psychologists believe that aggression is a biological problem and others believe that it is a behavioral problem. No matter which psychologist you agree with aggression is a problem in society.

Biological theorists suggest that aggression is caused by some genetic or biological factor. Maxon, a leading theorist proposed a theory that one's genes affect one or more types of aggression in mice, which may be applied to humans as a genetic explanation of aggression. Many researchers believe that aggression is caused by some genetic or biological factor, and thus believe that cases involving aggression should be treated chemically. These views of genetic or material essentialism claim that not only are physical characteristics of an individual determined by genetic information, but one's social roles, behaviors and relationships also have a biological genetic base (Kegley, 1996).

Growing evidence points to the conclusion that biological factors do predispose some individuals towards aggression. Through much research, it was found that people who suffer from reduced levels of serotonin are more likely prone to suffer from reduced abilities to control their aggressive impulses. These findings...